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Winston Templeton
Winston Templeton is a male human paladin and an NPC in the Emeron campaign. Summary Sir Winston Templeton was a paladin of Vesper and the marshal for the estate of Fulton in 1159. He also raised Edella Montfort after the death of her parents. Background Winston was born in Emeron City, the son of a soldier and a devout follower of Vesper. Sadly Winston's father died when he was a teen and he joined the city watch, learning how to fight. He was appalled at the corruption in the city watch, and did his best to report it and fight it, and was essentially fired for being a troublemaker. Winston joined the church, but found that his desire to aggressively pursue and destroy evil made him among the more militants of the acolytes there, again causing some strife among the teachings. It was suggested that he joined the Radiant Knights of Vesper, but since there mandate focused on destroying undead and necromancers more than aiding people overall he felt it was not the best fit either. He knew he wanted to serve Vesper and help people, and was good at fighting, but did not know how to combine that to meet his goals. Frustrated, and unsure of where to go it was Winston's mentor who suggested traveling to Rupmon to see if the Order of the Dawn would be to his liking. To Winston's joy it indeed was, and he joined the order, eventually becoming a full fledged member. While in the order he met Edwin and Elizabeth Montfort, two fellow members who were married. The three went on several missions throughout the Kingdom of Emeron together, helping the people wherever possible and fighting monsters and enemies. The Marshal of Fulton In 1139 Winston and the Montforts was following up on rumors of kidnappings along the border between the Thorgain Kingdom and the barony of Lurinlund. He ultimately learned that the source was a kidnapping ring operating out of Fulton to sell drifters, beggars and the dregs of society to a tribe of ogres living in the foothills of the Dwarven Mountains as slaves. Worse, the ringleader was the brother of the marshal of Vynrib, who looked the other way to protect his sibling. The trio broke up the slaver ring, killed several of the ogres and brought the marshal to justice. Several of the kidnapping victims came from the estate of Fulton as well, and Fulton's lord, Sir Lazrith, was immensely grateful and knighted the three paladins on the spot, offering them positions in his court. Winston accepted, being named as the Marshal of Fulton. The Montforts declined a position on the court, preferring to travel and continue to do good around the land. By 1141 the Montforts had returned to the headquarters of the Order of the Dawn so that Elizabeth could give birth to a daughter whom she and Edwin named Edella. A Fateful Request In 1147 unconfirmed rumors had made their way to Sir Lazrith that the death of Baron Jonathan Ravenut in 1140 and the ascension of his son Geoffry had been no random happenstance. There was not direct proof, but it there was enough circumstantial evidence to garner Sir Lazrith's interest. What was needed was someone utterly incorruptible and fearless but with no direct connections to Sir Lazrith's court to investigate. When asked if Winston knew anyone like that Winston suggested the Edwin and Elizabeth. It was a decision he would regret for the rest of his life. The Montforts agreed to surreptitiously investigate the rumors, leaving Edella in Winston's care in Fulton while they did so. In 1148 the Montforts were quietly making inquiries in Lurinlund City and seeking a member of the Lurinlund Baronial Army who may have some evidence of Geoffry's guilt in the death of his father. Unfortunately the man had been patrolling the Plains of Galmar and been captured by a barbarian raiding party. The Montforts decided that, regardless of the information he may have had, that a rescue was in order and traveled to the Plains to recover him. The information turned out to be false, however, seemingly designed to lure the Montforts out of the country to be killed. Winston received word of their death later that year. He took Edella in, raising her as best he could and, when she was old enough and expressed a desire, training her in combat and the teachings of Vesper. As Edella grew older Winston wrestled with the decision to tell her of her parent's fate and his role in it, but ultimately his guilt over their deaths prevented it. When she was 18 Winston urged Edella to leave Fulton, to find her own path away from the sheltered life she'd known living within the walls of Starminster Hold and learn more than he could teach her. Fulton's New Lord On the 14th of Unicorn King Koris Woodbridge died of illness. Sir Lazrith, as a Royal vassal, rode to Emeron City to offer oaths of fealty to the new queen, Joycie Woodbridge. While in the city there was an attack on Strade Hall, for which Duchess Sybeth Talsar and Dame Malia Waerblue accused. Lazrith, in conjunction with a number of other knights later dubbed the Sinister Seven freed the women from prison an fled the capital. The Crown stripped Lazrith of his title and lands, awarding Fulton to Dame Vonya Loxton instead. At the same time an army of undead was marching on the Plains of Galmar towards Emeron and had already defeated an army under the command of Sir Valin Taire in the First Battle of Undying Rage. Dame Vonya held orders from the Crown that Sir Winston was to take Fulton's full might and march east to join up with the remains of Sir Valin's defeated army and prevent them from reaching Emeronian territory. Sir Winston had concerns about the other orders that Dame Vonya had, among them the threat to execute Lazrith's squire, Arocan Gialiadin III. Arocan's father was one of the Sinister Seven and it was hoped this would bring him out of hiding and potentially lead to the whereabouts of the others. Winston (as well as many of Lazrith's court) objected to this. However with orders directly from the Crown to march east to stop the undead, Winston had little choice but to do just that and trust that his allies on Lazrith's court to help the boy. The Second Battle of the Undying Rage Winston gathered the full might of Fulton and marched east, linking up with the remains of Sir Valin's defeated army in Hardale. From there he marched east again to intercept the undead army. Winston's preferred tactic would have been to lure the creatures to a fortified location like Lurinlund City or Hardale, but the Crown's orders were clear that Winston was to prevent them from crossing the border into Emeron. These orders forced Winston to engage the enemy on the open plains. The battle went badly, and the sheer numbers of the monsters as well as the Galmarian horsemen marching with them resulted in Winston's flank crumbling. Winston ordered a withdrawal but saw that the enemy's general, a skeletal black armored figure with fiery red eyes, was charging the line and wreaking havoc. Winston ordered his second, Captain Fredias Charahad, to lead the retreat and took a small force of men to hold off the General to cover the retreat. Winston engaged the figure directly, and was utterly shocked when it greeted him with familiarity and identified itself as Elizabeth Montfort. This momentary shock was all the creature needed to take advantage and slay Winston. The effort was not entirely in vein though, as Captain Charahad was able to withdraw with nearly half the army. Category:Characters Category:Emeron Category:NPCs